Des Houghton: Queensland Building and Construction Commission’s secretive, wasteful spending shapes as another integrity crisis
The state government faces a new integrity crisis with wasteful and secretive spending by the beleaguered building regulator while the industry remains in crisis, writes Des Houghton.
Opinion
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The Queensland government’s troubled building regulator is set to spend $1m on a glitzy campaign to counter bad publicity in the media.
I’m told the Queensland Building and Construction Commission will unleash a campaign featuring stars and crew from the hit reality television show The Block.
In my opinion the real blockheads will be the QBCC for inappropriately spending lavish sums while the building industry is in crisis with floods and the COVID-19 pandemic leading to the collapse of firms like Condev, Privium and Probuild.
A series of negative stories about the QBCC’s performance published in The Courier-Mail and the Sunday Mail and building horror stories recalled in Parliament, have prompted QBCC chairman Dick Williams to engage consultants to improve its tarnished image.
I’m told the new campaign will include television ads, digital billboards and a social media blitz.
The consultants who worked on the makeover are believed to include Labor favourite Anacta Strategies plus industry heavy-hitters Rowland and the Philips Group to be hired under what are known as standing offer arrangements (SOAs).
These SOAs have been established with preferred suppliers to ensure cost-effectiveness and efficiency when buying for the government.
But there are concerns at the Tower of Power at 1 William Street that one high-profile firm chosen by the QBCC to work on the glitzy campaign, isn’t from the government’s list of preferred suppliers.
This prompted integrity campaigner Michael Hart, the Member for Burleigh Heads, to begin a Right to Information search seeking “the names of external consultants/companies engaged by the QBCC or the QBC Board, the reasons hired and breakdown of expenditure between December 2020 and December 2021”.
Hart said it was clear the new campaign was a misplaced priority for the QBCC, which has been rocked by serious allegations of ministerial intervention, conflicts of interest of board members and a lack of transparency.
“Considering the QBCC receives funding from every one of the licenses it issues, and the industry is doing it so tough at the moment, surely Minister Mick de Brenni needs to read the room,” Mr Hart said.
“Is splashing an estimated $1m on some shiny new image for the QBCC really an appropriate allocation of funding?
“The money could have been better spent on employing new staff for example, to help the businesses – and homeowners suffering because of the QBCC’s poor culture and decision-making processes.”
The LNP has accused Mr de Brenni of “stacking the QBCC board with his union masters”, tearing up small operators’ fire protection licenses and intervening in QBCC operations to “benefit his mates”.
Mr Hart said: “Perhaps (former public administrator) Jim Varghese, who is heading the government’s so-called inquiry into the toothless building watchdog, might be able to come up with some answers regarding the QBCC’s wasteful cash splash”.
I fear there is another integrity scandal brewing behind the scenes for the QBCC and other government agencies. You are not being told how your taxpayer funds are being spent.
A government data portal where the QBCC is required to list all contractors paid more than $10,000 has not been updated for nearly two years. It’s another blow to Cover-up Queen Annastacia Palaszczuk’s pledges of transparency. A simple oversight perhaps? Or have they got something to hide.
What happened to CCC probe into building watchdog?
I wonder what happened to the Crime and Corruption Commission investigation into the QBCC. It obviously fell into that big black hole where most complaints against government agencies go to die.
It was alleged the QBCC failed to intervene, even after Shaun McCrystal warned a unit block next door to his home was a fire risk because it was being built too close. Worse, the block was built with materials that were not fire resistant in accord with the Building Code of Australia. McCrystal, a Yeronga surgeon, said the QBCC not only failed its watchdog role but repeatedly blocked his efforts to seek the truth.
Former State Archivist Mike Summerell agreed, referring the matter to the CCC after certain files went missing.
Dave Stewart, the then Director-General of the Department of Premier and Cabinet also referred the case to the CCC after McCrystal wrote a letter to Annastacia Palaszczuk pointing out failures in the system and making allegations of ineptitude and wrongdoing he said amounted to corruption. And McCrystal’s allegations spread beyond the QBCC to other government departments and even the Ombudsman.
An independent expert backed McCrystal. Stephen Burton’s peer review assessment of fire safety at the apartment block pinpointed serious flaws.
He said the block posed a “real” fire threat to McCrystal’s home next door.
To the shame of every agency involved, the McCrystal case is unresolved.
Also unresolved is the flawed investigation into what went wrong with Mark Agius’s new $400,000 home he built on a hill in the Townsville suburb of Mount Louisa. It had so many defects he couldn’t move in. He also feared it would blow away in a cyclone.
Agius told me he is furious with the QBCC for dithering and “agreeing to retrospectively downgrade wind speed cyclone safety standards without my knowledge”.
He engaged independent wind and building experts who pointed to 75 major defects, including structural defects.
Why did the QBCC shirk its responsibilities to negotiate a solution, he asks. Agius has a small victory in the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal, with several more cases pending. It’s tough going. Seeking redress at QCAT can be like putting your hand in a flame and paying large sums to lawyers for the experience.
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